Card-envelope system and method

ABSTRACT

A system and method for assembling cards and envelopes for facilitating the use thereof by providing a first card envelope assembly for use by a first party sender, and further providing a second card-envelope assembly adapted for receipt in the first card-envelope assembly, placing a message in the first card-envelope assembly encouraging the use of the contained second card-envelope assembly for transmittal to a third party, and sending the card-envelope assembly to a third party for reading and transmittal to another party.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of and priority from U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/574460 filed May 26, 2604 which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to card-envelope methods and systems and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a card-envelope system incorporating one or more cards and envelopes packaged for a first party within a first card-envelope for facilitating receipt by a second party and subsequent transmittal of the contained cards to a third party or parties. In one embodiment, the present invention relates specifically to greeting cards and a method of sending to multiple recipients.

2. History of Related Art

The mailing of information and/or greetings is well established in commerce. In that regard, the greeting card industry has boomed in recent decades. Greeting cards are now found in grocery stores, specialty card stores, gift shops, and virtually all other areas of commerce. The style, shape and sentiment of greeting cards will, of course vary. Some cards are humorous while others convey sympathy or love. Many commercial establishments even categorize greeting cards so as to facilitate the ease in purchase by the user.

Once a greeting card is received by a person, a period of time can pass before either a reciprocal greeting card is sent or the recipient thinks of an opportunity to send a greeting card to yet a third party. Of course, RSVP responses are well known, but these are generally sent back to the sender. It is also well known that one's intention to do something thoughtful or courteous, such as sending a greeting card to a third party is often frustrated due to the immediate availability of greeting cards. Also, with the hectic pace of today's society, it is often necessary to buy a large number of greeting cards to “keep on hand.” The present invention overcomes the problems associated with greeting card availability and frustrated intentions by providing a first greeting card with one or more smaller greeting cards contained therein to facilitate the recipient having the ability to immediately follow up with yet another greeting card to a third party or parties.

It is likewise frustrating to many for certain artistic works to not be well circulated. An artistic work should be enjoyed by those who would appreciate it. Mailing an artistic work to a single person has, however, inherent limitations. The recipient may wish to send the work to other individuals but may not have the immediate means to do so. The present invention addresses these issues by providing a system for forwarding artistic work to multiple recipients for the purpose of exposing the work of the artist and/or extending the goodwill represented thereby.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to card-envelope systems and methods. More particularly, one aspect of the invention relates to a system of cards wherein a first card-envelope assembly of a first party is provided with at least a second card-envelope assembly received by a second party recipient and adapted for sending to a third party. The second card-envelope assembly includes at least one transmittal envelope so that the recipient of the first card will have the ability to send a further card to a third party. In one embodiment, the card is a greeting card and another embodiment, the card assembly may include other cards that embody artwork, such as a photograph, painting, poem, or the like. In another embodiment, the second card includes postage applied to the contained envelope so as to even further facilitate the transmittal of the card to a third party.

In another aspect, the present invention includes a method of assembling cards and envelopes for facilitating the use thereof by providing a first card envelope assembly for use by a first party, and further providing a second card-envelope assembly adapted for receipt in the first card-envelope assembly, placing a message in the first card-envelope assembly encouraging the use of the contained second card-envelope assembly for transmittal to a third party, and sending the card-envelope assembly to a third party for reading and transmittal to another party.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the method and apparatus of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the following Detailed Description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical illustration of a card-envelope system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and illustrating a variety of cards contained within the other for transmittal to third parties; and

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic schematic of a flow diagram illustrating the principles of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It has been found advantageous to provide a system for the sending of a card that includes at least a second and possibly third or more cards (and associated envelopes) contained therein adapted for transmission to third or other parties. The advantages are particularly manifested when a card containing a first theme common to both the sender and the first recipient is incorporated into the contained card and/or cards packaged therewith so as to promulgate the extension of the theme of the first card through subsequent contained cards. The size of the envelopes packaged within the first envelope of the first card are reduced so as to facilitate the subsequent mailings as will be seen in more detail below.

Referring first to FIG. 1 there is shown the diagrammatic schematic illustration of a system comprising a series of cards (in one embodiment, greeting cards) in accordance with one embodiment of the principles of the present invention. The cards are constructed, in this embodiment, with a particular theme, such as an artistic rendering including photographs and/or drawings selected by the original sender and/or someone significant to the original sender that is well known to, and/or the theme appreciated by, the first recipient of the sender. The first recipient of the sender receives the first card which contains yet at least one additional card and envelope assembly therein having, in this particular embodiment, a common theme which may include the foresaid artistic rendering related to said first sender and/or a party associated with said first sender. In this manner, the recipient may both enjoy the receipt of the first card and in furtherance thereof forward the contained card therein to yet a third party further extending the goodwill and/or gratitude of the sender to the first recipient to the second recipient and a third or more recipient(s).

In one embodiment of the system of FIG. 1, an artistic work (see FIG. 2), such as a photograph, drawing, poem or the like created by the first party or an individual known to the first party and possibly related to, associated with and/or recognized by at least a first recipient and possibly other recipients, may be transmitted. In this particular embodiment, a poem or artistic work that is desired to be distributed may then be forwarded to the first recipient in a first envelope by the first sender, along with at least one card and envelope (of smaller size than the first envelope) containing the virtually identical work and/or a similar work or common theme which may be sent to yet a second recipient in manner greatly facilitated by the present invention.

By way of further example, a first party creates an artwork, such as a poem, drawing, photograph, or the like manifesting a select theme (see Fig, 2). The first party then desires to see the artwork theme, and/or the goodwill represented by the theme forwarded to multiple other parties in a convenient fashion. This may be for many reasons including exposure of the work of the artist or the extension of goodwill by the sender. the first party thus forwards a first card containing the artwork or theme, along with at least a second card-envelope assembly which may contain yet a third an/or fourth card-envelope assembly contained therein with the artwork and/or common theme. The common theme can be either the identical artwork or related artwork, or a prior artwork of the first party. In this manner the creativity of the first party and/or his or her goodwill may be sent to multiple parties. Artistic works and other achievements of individuals, such as the first party may therein be easily distributed in an effective and meaningful manner by virtue of the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 2 there is shown a series of greeting cards having artistic work displayed hereon, along with indicia associated therewith. In this particular embodiment, the artwork and the associate indicia are representative of the creativity of the first party referred to above. The sender, which may or may not be the artist/first party considers the essence of the creativity to be noteworthy and desires to either expose the artwork and/or to extend the goodwill and gratitude embodied in the essence of the artistic creation of the artist/first party. As shown herein the essence of creativity may be embodied in a drawing having poetic lyrics associated therewith, or other work.

The card-envelope system of the present invention facilitates communicating with multiple recipients. The system comprises a plurality of cards and envelopes, the plurality including a first card-envelope assembly adapted for use by a first party sender in creating a message for a second party recipient. The system includes at least a second card-envelope assembly received within the first card-envelope assembly in conjunction with the message, and the second card-envelope assembly is adapted for transmittal to and receipt by the second party recipient for adding a message and sending to a third party recipient. The card-envelope system further includes a third card-envelope assembly received within the second card-envelope assembly for facilitating the ability of the third-party recipient to create a message in the third card-envelope assembly to a fourth party recipient. The card-envelope system of the present invention may include multiple cards, for example, a greeting card, a card embodying artwork or a painting, a photograph, or poem.

It may be seen that a plurality of cards may be transmitted by the sender in that a second, third, fourth, etc. card and envelope assemblies of smaller sizes may be contained therein in either a postage paid and/or non-postage paid condition. A prestamped card is obviously easier to forward to a third, fourth or fifth party recipient than an unstamped card and it is the intent of the present invention to facilitate exposure of creativity of the first party and/or the extension of goodwill and gratitude by sending cards with self-contained cards. The aspect of a common theme created by the first party adds an additional aspect thereto. The cards of the present invention may also contain combinations of both paintings, photos, poems, humorous messages and/or poetic creativity manifesting goodwill or gratitude from the sender to the recipient/recipients. In one embodiment the subsequent recipients are encouraged to send the smaller card-envelopes contained therein on to other parties for further exposing the creativity and/or extending the theme of the first card and/or previous cards received thereby.

From a commercial aspect, the card-envelope assemblies may be sold in packages of a dozen, or the like, each containing two or more smaller card-envelopes inside that may be likewise packaged as a gift. The person who receives the dozen “treasure” cards (as they could be referred to) will be encouraged to send one card-envelope assembly of the present invention each month to someone they care about.

In yet another embodiment, a group of fewer card-envelope assemblies each containing multiple smaller card-envelope assemblies may have a special theme to be sold as a package gift. Possible themes/messages that can be sent throughout the year include holidays, days of self proclaimed rest, celebration of life, messages of laughter, listening, breathing, etc.

Although embodiment(s) of the present invention have been illustrated in the accompanying Drawings and described herein, it will be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment(s) disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications, and substitutions without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. 

1. A card-envelope system for communicating with multiple recipients, the system comprising a plurality of cards and envelopes, the plurality including a first card-envelope assembly adapted for use by a first party sender in creating a message for a second party recipient and having at least a second card-envelope assembly received within the first card-envelope assembly in conjunction with the message, the at least second card-envelope assembly being adapted for transmittal to and receipt by the second party recipient for adding a message and sending to a third party recipient.
 2. The card-envelope system of claim 1 and including a third card-envelope assembly received within the second card-envelope assembly facilitating the ability of the third party recipient to create a message in the third card-envelope assembly to a fourth party recipient.
 3. The card-envelope system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the cards is a greeting card.
 4. The card-envelope assembly system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the cards embodies artwork.
 5. The card-envelope assembly system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the cards comprises a photograph.
 6. The card-envelope assembly system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the cards comprises a painting.
 7. The card-envelope assembly system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the cards comprises a poem.
 8. The card-envelope system of claim 1 and further including prepaid postage applied to at least one of the contained envelopes wherein the recipients of the first card-envelope assembly is able to transmit the contained card-envelope assemblies to another party.
 9. A method of assembling cards and envelopes for facilitating the use thereof by multiple parties, the method comprising the steps of providing a first card envelope assembly for use by a first party sender, providing a second card-envelope assembly adapted for receipt in the first card-envelope assembly, placing a message in the first card-envelope assembly encouraging the use of the contained second card-envelope assembly for transmittal to a third party, and sending the card-envelope assembly to a third party for reading and transmittal to another party. 